The present invention relates generally to integrated devices. More particularly, the present invention provides an integrated circuit free from bulk semiconductor material configured on at least CMOS integrated circuit devices as well as a method for fabricating the integrated circuit configured on at least CMOS IC devices. But it will be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability.
Electronic technology has experienced explosive growth in the past years. Such technology can be found in commonly used products such as the Blackberry™ phone by Research in Motion Limited, Laptop or Netbook computers, to gaming consoles including the Nintendo Wii™, among others. Electronic technology can also be found in our Internet and telephone networks, security, financial applications, and healthcare and medical systems and devices. An essential component to the explosive growth and evolution of electronic technology has been semiconductor technology, and most particularly semiconductor integrated circuits.
Semiconductor integrated circuits have evolved from a handful of interconnected devices fabricated on a single chip of silicon to millions and even billions of individual devices. Conventional integrated circuits provide performance and complexity far beyond what was originally imagined. In order to achieve improvements in complexity and circuit density (i.e., the number of devices capable of being packed onto a given chip area), the size of the smallest device feature, also known as the device “geometry”, has become smaller with each generation integrated circuits. Semiconductor devices are now being fabricated with features less than one tenth of a micron across.
Similar to integrated circuits, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, commonly called MEMS, has also evolved into many common applications. Examples of MEMS include sensors, actuators, and micromachines. Conventional MEMS are often fabricated using micromachining processes that selectively etch away parts of the silicon wafer or add new structural layers to form the mechanical and electromechanical devices. MEMS can be found in applications such as automotive, gaming, sports, and others. Although highly successful, MEMS still have limitations. That is, like semiconductor integrated circuits, making makes smaller and less expensive has been challenging. Additionally, integration between MEMS and integrated circuits has been difficult due to incompatible processing capabilities. These and other limitations of conventional electronic technology have been described more particularly throughout the present specification and more particularly below.
From the above, it is seen that an improved techniques for manufacturing electronic technologies are highly desired.